How AD is a West Coast Legend in the Making, “Chapter 2” Explains it All

Having collaborated with legends from the west coast including The Game, E-40, YG, and Ty Dolla $ign, AD’s new single “Chapter 2” signifies the next phase in the rapper’s career. An opening interview with Kendrick Lamar has the Compton legend paying his respects to AD stating, “AD been doing his thing… AD been grinding since I been grinding.” With three different beats combined, the West Coast native delivers a haymaker as his 2017 single.

Rocking his signature bandana headband, the video opens to find the rising talent bedside watching a Kendrick Lamar interview, where K. Dot refers to AD as a “killer” and “hard”, something AD hasn’t forgotten and uses as motivation since the Baloo Generations interview in 2015. In the verse, AD discusses the loss of his grandmother, his moves to Hollywood, his misfortune with public relations reps, learning from friend / collaborator OT Genasis, and his reason for going “back to his roots”. AD bears his vulnerability as he strives for greatness.

Director Angelo Deprater splices in imagery reflective of the state of mind of AD on his first single from Blue 89 C2. The music video is like a scrapbook including photos of the rapper’s family, friends, idols, and various landmarks of Los Angeles county. Also displayed are his past albums and mixtape covers including By The Way, the collaboration with multi-platinum producer Sorry Jaynari, which included one of the rapper’s biggest hits to date, “Juice”. The single garnered radio play and over a million views on youtube.

In the first beat change, the tone of the video switches to an alternating blue and beige lighting, fitting of the Compton rapper’s history as Blue 89 stands for his Crip roots and the birth year. This verse finds AD voicing his frustrations from the loss of friends, the rap game’s notoriety for taking with nothing in return, and the internet’s criticism and commentary. He vents these frustrations bar after bar of lyrical flexing letting them know he, “Needs no introduction / know they heard of me / we done hit all these bitches before surgery / AD when you dropping it’s an urgency / cuz every time you spit from the heart you cause a murder scene”. AD’s lyrical ability serves to solidify why his presence is necessary in an age of mumble rappers.

In the final verse the track shifts from KT’s production, to AD creating a beat on a table with nothing but his hands and a pen. As he puts it, “ we gon’ take it back to elementary, beating on the table like the ones in penitentiaries”. Clearly in his element, AD finishes the song off an independent note, “these label budgets tempting me”, and questions the legitimacy of the popular rap personas stating, “lot of rappers out here thuggin’ but they make-believe”. AD deserves the recognition for all the work he has put in and he affirms this across three different beats on “Chapter 2”.

Favorite lyric:

“Let me keep it honest / I done read every review / every comment / Like ‘why you always yelling in your records’ / They would never listen so I had to scream the message”

Most recently, you can find AD in the rotation on Power 106 FM. AD is featured on the collaboration track with station hosts The LA Leakers, Wale, and Eric Bellinger in “Facetime”. With the album completed, you can look for Blue 89 C2 available everywhere December 1st.